Homework Journal #1 The Glass Castle

A. What impression of Jeannette’s mother do you get in the first section (pp. 3-5)? Why do you think she chooses to begin the memoir with this encounter?

Jeannette’s mother, in pages 3-5, seems like an eccentric, not-all-there, homeless woman. She is introduced in the book when Jeannette sees her while in a cab. She witnesses her mother digging through a dumpster, appraising things that might have worth to her. Beginning the memoir with this scene allows the reader to glimpse into their relationship. Jeannette obviously in adverse to her mother seeing her. She does not want anyone who knows her to connect her with her mother. She is ashamed of her mother and what she represents. She is also of the finery she wears and what she believes her mother will think of her. After Jeannette reaches her home and it is described I deduced that because of her mother’s situation she is attempting to live differently, to live better. When she calls and leaves her mother a message to meet her mother suggests a Chinese restaurant. When Jeannette reaches the restaurant she sees her mother, who attempted to look presentable, with a clean face but dirt all around her neck and ears. She was dressed in . As they sat discussing how Jeannette could help her mother and father in their “situation”. Her mother is avidly refusing help other than an “electrolysis treatment”. Jeannette mentions that she saw her mother the day before and her mother questions why she didn’t come to her. “I was too ashamed”, Jeannette says. Her mother can’t seem to comprehend why she had reason to be ashamed. When Jeannette asks how she tells people about her, her mother says, “ Just tell the truth.” The author begins this memoir with this scene because it sets the tone for the mother and daughter’s relationship. It also shows the background of their family and where Jeannette is now in comparison.

B. How do Jeannette’s parents explain the “skedaddle?” How do they justify all the moves? What are Jeannette and her siblings’ reactions to constantly moving?

Further into the book there is mentioning of how often they moved when Jeannette was a child and some of the inner workings of Jeannette’s family. The “skedaddle” was the sudden and fast-paced moving of the entire family in the middle of the night. They took only what they could fit in their car and left where they lived. The way they moved silently through the trailer park lets the reader infer that someone might be looking for them because of debt or a grudge against the father. The father’s explanation of the “skedaddle” was seemingly falsified. Jeannette’s father told the children they were being followed by the FBI or “ executive from Standard Oil who were trying to steal the Texas land that Mom’s family owned.” Jeannette’s mother then made clear to the children that the FBI weren’t really following them, that “ it was more fun having the FBI on your tail than bill collectors.” They move quite a lot to “little mining towns in Nevada, Arizona, and California.” Jeannette’s mother explained that the children’s father could get any job he wanted by talking a “blue streak”, but he didn’t like staying in one place too long. They immediately uprooted and went on to the next place. While in the desert Jeannette comments on their family living like they were forever and her older sister says, “ I think we’re going to.” With Jeannette being so young I don’t believe she fully comprehends the moving beyond the feeble excuses given by her parents. Her sister’s cryptic words can be taken in many different ways. I choose to believe that she understands what all of the moving is about and doesn’t believe their lives will be any more than that, forever. She does not seem pleased by that prospect either. Jeannette’s brother also did not like the traveling the family did.

C. Describe a memory you have of moving, whether it was moving homes, schools, or even rooms. What kind of impact of significance did the move have on you?

I have not moved quite as much as this family did but I have moved a few times in my life. I remember when I was 6 years and my sister was 5. We lived with our mother, Dalisa Curtis. We had to move in with our father, brother, and grandparents around July of 2005 because of the death of our mother. Our moving being shadowed by our mom’s death didn’t make us feel anything but sadness. We weren’t happy moving in with them. Not because of them, but because of the reason we moved in. The house we moved into was very crowded so we then moved from there into another house in 2006. We lived with our grandparents, father, and brother until 2015 when our brother passed away. After that we moved into a house with our stepmother, where we continue to live right now.